Friday, October 05, 2012

Homeowner who replaces thirsty grass with native plants is hit with neighborhood association lawsuit. - OrlandoSentinel.com: A homeowner near Windermere who happens to work for Orange County's environmental department has been sued by her neighborhood association for replacing her thirsty grass with a water-conserving landscape.Renee Parker's plants attract butterflies, blossom regularly in multiple colors and have an assortment of shapes and heights. For a meandering border, she planted Argentine bahia, a grass that's hardier than the water-craving, fertilizer-loving St. Augustine variety commonly growing in Florida yards.
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More frivolous litigation and bad press for Privatopia and the community association bar. Film at 10.

McKay claims neighbors and managers have been giving him a hard time, which now has him locked in a legal battle with the homeowners association to keep his condo."They're going wait a minute, no pets. I say, ‘He's not a pet, he's a service dog. I'm an American with disability, I'm covered under ADA,'" McKay said.-----------
So there!

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Economists: Housing recovery finally here | Money - KCRA Home: "We're seeing the signs of a pulse in a sector that has been flat-lined for a number of years," said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida.Determining when the housing market has turned the corner is important for more than home builders and real estate agents. Even before soaring foreclosures sparked a meltdown in financial markets in 2008, the housing market had become a significant drag on the economy. Housing continued to subtract from the nation's gross domestic product right up through early 2011.
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Probably just in time for many HOAs which the perfessor warned stand at the brink of insolvency due to accumulated assessment delinquencies spawned by years of recession and residential real estate deflation.

Ruling casts doubt on Hilton Head Plantation gate toll - Beaufort News - IslandPacket.com: Hilton Head Plantation property owners behind on their association dues can't be charged a toll to enter the gated community, a Beaufort County judge has ruled.Judge Marvin Dukes determined the association's policies and bylaws do not give it the authority to charge the toll, which took effect Monday, as a way of collecting long overdue assessments."After a review of the aforementioned covenants and restrictions, I find that there is no provision allowing the association to charge a toll on owners ...," Dukes wrote in the Sept. 26 temporary injunction. The ruling bars the association from charging Patrick or Janelle Dodd, who are named in the order, the $10 daily toll or the $50 fee for a guest pass until a final hearing on the matter.-------------
This is first: a selective tollgate in Privatopia.

Will New HOA Members Change Pink Playhouse Lawsuit? | NBC Augusta 26She's hoping the new board members elected Tuesday night will be on
her side as she fights to keep the color of her granddaughter's
playhouse pink."It is frivolous, that there is nothing in those covenants that
specifically addresses play equipment, and it needs to be thrown out
before it ever gets to court and it just might,” she said.Peck has until the end of this week to answer the complaint and she says she's hired an attorney and is prepared to go to court.The attorney for the HOA who filed the complaint, August Murdock, says all the board wants is for the playhouse to be repainted.
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The saga of the HOA offending pink playhouse continues. Film at 10.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

"Most Dangerous City in America" Is Disbanding Its Current Police Force:
That would be Camden, New Jersey:"The reason, officials say, is that generous union contracts have made it financially impossible to keep enough officers on the street. So in November, Camden, which has already had substantial police layoffs, will begin terminating the remaining 273 officers and give control to a new county force. The move, officials say, will free up millions to hire a larger, nonunionized force of 400 officers to safeguard the city, which is also the nation’s poorest....Though the city is solidly Democratic, the plan to put the Police Department out of business has not prompted the wide public outcry seen in the union battles in Chicago, Ohio or Wisconsin, in part because many residents have come to resent a police force they see as incompetent, corrupt and doing little to make their streets safe."
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How's that for dysfunction? And it may be part of a trend. Step one would be to dismantle the municipal-level service and turn the function over to the county: "Faced with tight budgets, many communities across the country are considering regionalizing their police departments, along with other services like firefighting, libraries and schools." Step two for Camden is to create a new non-union police force. For other cities, that step is a bigger one: move to contracting out the service to private corporations.

About Me

I am a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Nothing contained in this blog represents the opinions of UIC or John Marshall, and nothing you see here is legal advice. You can reach me at ecmlaw@gmail.com